Problems Gmail Access

[tim armstrong]

A friend staying with me is trying to access g mail. The message regularly says wrong username or password. At other times its OK. He hasn't changed his password details for several years. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[CMSteve]

1st make sure that they are connecting to the correct site. This may be a type of scam.

If they are connecting to the same sight, is it possible that you are have multiple languages set up for your keyboard. If you switch from Thai to English for example, although you hit the same keys, gmail will read it as a different character.

I'm sure they are other possibilities, but those are the first two to come to mind.

[Pib]

Gmail working fine for me in Bangkok. Rarely, rarely, rarely, have any issues with Gmail. And when than rare occassion occurs it's for a very brief time. If you have a slow DSL connection or using via cell/smart phone connection, maybe you are really getting a time-out type error versus the wrong User ID/password being entered. Good luck.

[bangkokburning]

I've had this problem in internet cafes 2x. not sure what it was. switched computers first time and was ok, same cafe, switched cafes in a panic 2nd time, but was ok when I got logged in. I did not stick around to isolate the issue but def was not language cause you first type your user and you can see the roman letters.

I thought the account was hacked. I don't see how this process would be malware. keystroke would have copied what youd already typed, malware I presume would want inside too.

Having said that. My hunch is that it is malware or some crazy av software conflict that Internet shops to lazy to clean or set up a computer to reimage on boot.

Is this on a home computer (yours?) or is it the Internet cafe scenario above? Have him log to yours only.

[Member]

He hasn't changed his password details for several years

Well, then let him start with finally update his password, it's not very clever to keep the same passwords all your life it's asking for trouble. Most people are not very conscious about the dangers on the internet, just unnecessarily spend money on a poor antivirus and think they are safe but have got no clue about the importance of an antimalware program, blocking cookies, regular botnet checks, most don't know how to properly empty the trashbin or delete a program or keeping enough free space on the harddisk by creating a new partition etc. etc. etc. Most people also do not scan/ clean their system several times a day and they end up with a system that can be compared with a landfill in Manila with all risks and problems.

[Laawman]

Could try the capcha unlock:

https://www.google.com/accounts/UnlockCaptcha?

It sometimes happens when the account is accessed to many times in a set period. Not sure if it will help but worth a try I guess.